Monday, December 9, 2013

TD Aeroplan Visa Card details revealed? (Rumour Only at this time!)

The first hints of the new TD Aeroplan Visa's are out on the Aeroplan
website but there are very little details about it. When I started writing this post I had not seen that the details of the cards that seemed to have been leaked on Redflagdeals.com. I am awaiting confirmation back from Aeroplan whether the details on RFD are correct.

Here is the gist of my post before coming across the RFD thread:

Essentially the interim TD Card will
offer the same 1.5x Aeroplan Miles bonus multiplier as the current the
CIBC Aerogold cards for Gas, Grocery and Drug Store purchases. As well
it is limited to $80,000 per year for those categories. We had a meeting
with Aeroplan a few weeks and believe this may not be the actual
offering from the card once it is officially launched. Why is this? The
cards that are being issued as of January 1st will have TD branding but
will still be managed by CIBC (which means the statement will actually
read CIBC even though the card will have a TD logo) and this will be the
case until CIBC and TD determine which cardholders move to each
respective bank.

The card will also offer special benefits from Air Canada including
priority check-in, boarding and access to the Maple Leaf Lounge with
Aeroplan flight rewards (these kick in on January 16 and appear that
they will also available on the CIBC cards)

They will also have Enhanced insurance coverage with a full suite of
comprehensive travel, purchase protection and auto rental insurances all
of which will be detailed on January 1st.

Now back to the start of my post and the supposed details of the cards as pulled from the thread on RFD:

If these details are correct then the cards aren't living up to the hype that seems to have been surrounding the new TD cards. The Platinum version is a slightly better card than the current CIBC AeroClassic card with more insurance and higher mileage earning but also with a higher annual fee. The Infinite is essentially the same as the CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card except for the Air Canada benefits when traveling on an Aeroplan award ticket (based on the Aeroplan wesbite wording the CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite will also offer this but we'll have to confirm this) and then there is theTD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege with more base mileage earning at 1.25 miles and a host of decent Air Canada benefits as seen above. However a minimum household income of $200,000 seems high and the annual fee is pretty high as well for the benefits. Honestly the American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum card is a better bet even with an even higher annual fee and you only need a household personal income of $40,000.

Of course until these details are either confirmed or refuted by Aeroplan and/or TD I can only stress that these details are strictly a rumour at this time! Please don't make any credit card decisions yet based on this post!

Finally I'd love to hear your thoughts on these "potential" cards from TD!

Mon 12:47pm MST UPDATE: Here is the response from my contact at Aeroplan neither confirming nor denying the details:"We look forward to sharing details once the deal is officially closed, and, when the TD product is available as of January 1, 2014."

Come to think of it, perhaps this potential leak of information was done on purpose to see the reaction from people and it gives them time to further tweek the cards based on "once the deal is officially closed" statement from Aeroplan? That's just me thinking out loud.....

The Platinum and Infinite don’t stand out and are prettypricy compared to other options on the market.

The Infinite Privilege has potential for improvement, theearn rate is okay but could be more aggressive. You need 200,000 income? What’swith this you can only use the lounge and other airport benefits when you’re redeemingrewards? What about when I just pay for the flight on the card? Definitely notworth the 399 per year if I can't use these benefits. As mentioned below I’d go for the Amex Aeroplan Platinum to be able to use the lounge and benefits whenever and apply with minimum40k income.

Thanks everyone for the commentary! Have to agree with everyone that if these are the actual offerings they are quite weak. Another possibility is they could be an interim offering while the cards are managed by CIBC then when TD takes full control they up the benefits? Another just thinking out loud moment!

I have Lounge Access from CIBC with the AeroGold card. It comes with priority check-in but not priority baggage, security or boarding. The AeroPlat Amex card adds priority security at YYZ to that but you still need some status with Air Canada to get priority baggage and boarding. I would be very surprised if the TD card added those features since they would be provided by Air Canada and not by Aeroplan.

Based on my recent meeting with Aeroplan there will definitely be Air Canada features on the TD card and those listed above (1st bag fee, Priority Check In, Priority Boarding) are the easiest to supply and control so I would think those parts of the 'rumoured' offering are correct